Customer Reviews

NFL Greatest Games Series - 1985 Chicago Bears

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I have watched all games from the set, here is what you get:

The video quality is great for games from 1985. The edits are minimal and appear to be related to cutting out any network related promos, or when they cut to the studio for highlights from other games. Also missing is the music. The NBC CBS and ABC music jingles are removed. Other than that though............... you get the complete network games with tv broadcasters, Summerall Madden, Dick Endberg, Frank Gifford, etc. There is some postgame stuff for the nfc championship and super bowl. Most games clock in between 2 and 2 1/2 hours, the super bowl is just under 3 hours. Outstanding! Also this is a 12 disc set, not 5 as this site advertises. these are the games
week 1 vs Tampa Bay
week 3 the thursday night game against Minnesota
week 4 the blowout of the Washington Redskins
week 5 at Tampa bay - close game
week 6 the revenge game against the San Francisco 49ers(my personal favorite)
week 7 the monday night game against Green Bay
week 11 the 44-0 game against the Dallas Cowboys
week 13 the monday night loss to Miami
week 16 the season ending game at Detroit
playoff win over the Giants
championship game win over the Rams
and the Super Bowl over the Patriots with post game ceremonies

I'm sure this set was priced to sell. I would have loved the other games from the season too, but I wont be nit picky. You get a lot here for your money. All Bears fans will be pleased with this. They could perhaps do another box set with the remaining games, super bowl shuffle, and Chicago Bears complete history, and America;s game! I will definately buy future releases of complete games from other nfl dynasties. But if you look closely, this set tells the story. The opening game, last gaem of the regular season, all monday night games, 1 game against each division opponent, The biggest games of the regular season, their only loss, their closest win of the season vs the bucs, and the entire postseason. FANTASTIC!

Someone please buy Sal Palantonio a copy of this set!

Other reviews are correct, however, the recording method in 1985 came from 1 inch and 3/4 inch video tape with a source from the truck outside of a stadium to the network mastering, usually used for (highlights) sports reports on the newscasts. This is not your usual NFL Films camera on the sidelines recording, but the way a game was viewed over-the-air. One game even has a local station (super) ID (I believe from West Virginia). In these days before FOX came along (about 6 or 7 years later with the broadcast rights to the NFC and decent music), games were loose (and it took forever for the audio person to add music to the bumpers before and after commercial breaks). This is why you'll hear the majority of the in and out cues of the announcers before a quick fade to black / fade back to picture. Think of those early days (if you're older than 40) when we bought our first ($500) VCR and hit the pause button when the breaks came, and unpaused when the breaks ended. That's what these games look like for the most part. Would I complain? Heck no. I've recorded games since 1985 (my first VCR) in SLP, later in LP speed, and recently remastered them to SP DVD, and this set looks better than what I could get from a VHS tape. They even have a ripple or two here and there, but for the true Bears lover (or collector of the Packer/Bear games such as myself), all I can say is 'da Bears' rock (and those memories of the worst Packer Bear game I've ever seen) are re-lived. Yes I'm a cheesehead that also lives in (cough cough) California, hoping to get the H### out of this state and back to where the real happy cows live! (grin)
PS: Don't lose sleep waiting for the other games of the season. Those would be (regional) games and not (network) games, which means the stations of that region would have to sign away their share in the profits of any kind of reissue. Forget it, they're as greedy as the music publishing companies (and why a lot of DVD releases come out with new theme music on tv shows). Only in the U.S.! Ya gotta love it!

After reading the other reviews I was excited to get a copy of this boxed set. I didn't care about who was on what cover and whether or not Barry Sanders should be there -as some have complained, but I was more interested in the quality of the actual game footage used for these DVDs.
Having viewed each disc, I will admit it is a pretty sweet set of discs for any Chicago Bears fan to own. Although, I was disappointed to find that two of the DVD's (disc-7 @Dallas, and disc-9 @Detroit) contained horrendous copies of each game.
The Dallas game looks to be straight off of someone's old & weathered VHS cassette recording - grainy, blurry & scratchy at times, and the sound is low and muffled. As for the Detroit game, I think the footage here was taken off of an old beta tape from a "rabbit ears" antennae feed. Seriously, the video is scratchy, and it contains diagonal lines in the back ground. Almost like the antennae wasn't quite tweaked right to get a more clearer picture - for those of us who still remember that.
The footage on the rest of the discs is pretty darn good - both in video & audio quality.
This set brought back a lot of memories from that season, and a reminder of all the excitement that the '85 Bears brought to the city of Chicago that year. I enjoyed hearing Johnny Morris and Tim Ryan's voices again (from the local Chicago feeds), and it was especially great to see Walter Payton playing ball again. Bears fans, particularly those who watched this team, will definitely enjoy this series.

The last time I watched some of these games from the 1985 season, it was on Betamax video cassette. So to see them now, 22 years after the fact on DVD, brings back a lot of good memories. Unfortunately, there are 7 games missing from that season. But that could be due to lost or damaged master tapes. The good news is that the broadcast is mostly un-edited so except for the missing commercials and a couple of late comebacks which missed a couple of plays, the games flows nicely.

Another good point is that they included at least 1 game from the Bears' division rivals of the time: Packers, Vikings, Lions, and Bucs. Plus games against the defending Super Bowl champion 49ers, Redskins, and Dolphins (who handed the Bears their only loss in a Monday Night Football game).

All three playoff games are included as well. My only "complaint" would be that I wish they could have included some more of the pregame segments that would have included the Bears.

First off, this is a great collection of NFL games from maybe the best team ever. I think only the best Steelers teams of the 1970's could have had a shot against this incredible DEFENSE. I've never seen anything like this team and I never will. I'm 39 and remember this special 85 Bears team well as a teenager. This brings back awesome memories of watching the NFL with my brothers then. And this was a time when you had actual, true men playing football. Not what you have today. A bunch of men-children whos antics make me sick. These guys just played football. Remember those days when guys didn't jump up after being tackled on a first down play to signal his arm forward like a immature jackass? I do!

Where's Wilber Running In The Snow To The SuperBowl?? That famous scene at mid-field at the end of the game as the snow is falling putting a final cap on this dominant performance. What you get is some guy holding up a Super Bowl XX pennant who looks like a SNL character during a DA BEARS spoof with the audio of Madden and Summeral. BTW, they had some hysterical comments about the Fridge in this game. Summeral says "it would taken a stout wind to move the Fridge". Great stuff. I just wish they would have used NFL FILMS footage at the end or track down some other footage elsewhere good or bad; just to see that great scene of Wilber in the snow on his way to the endzone.

A classic set of NFL games for anyone to enjoy. I'm a die-hard Broncos fan and more importantly a die-hard football fan. Get this set if you love football or buy it for someone who does!!

This is a very good collection of Chicago Bears games from 1985, and I'm glad that the NFL put it out. As for those games where people have complained about poor video quality (the season-ender at Detroit being one of them; another is SBXX, with the postgame interviews), I really don't mind the poor quality, and in fact, I'm giving Warner Bros./NFL Films the benefit of the doubt, as I believe that they did what they could, and I also believe that such poor quality actually adds to the dated look of those games. Another thing: while most of these games are from CBS (with SBXX being from NBC 1/26/86), the game at Miami is not the only ABC game presented here; the second game (at Minnesota) was what was known as a special Thursday night edition of Monday Night Football, and the game vs. Green Bay is another MNF game. The ABC games and the lone NBC game (SBXX) last somewhat longer due to the fact that they were national games, and as such, no other games were being aired at the same time. What would have really added value is if the NFL left the gamebreaks in on the CBS games ("gamebreaks" meaning those short segments where Brent Musburger highlights other games). Other than that, I am very pleased with this release.

Considering the season was 25 years ago, this is about as good a set you're going to find on the market (authorized or not). Video quality is good enough - basically the equivalent of VHS transfers to DVD. Each highlighted game is the FULL game with color commentary, and no commercials. If this was your team growing up then you'll treasure this set, being reminded of one thing: "dang, this team was SO GOOD!" Yeah, 12 games is not the whole season, but it's plenty enough to keep your spirits up through any current bumbling Bears' season =P. (and if you REALLY need those missing games, you might be able to find some of the old unauthorized DVD sets that used to be sold over the internet) so don't delay, get this set! you won't regret it!

To watch Sweetness play again! THE GREATEST FOOTBALL PLAYER THAT EVER LIVED! What a great Christmas gift! We miss you Walter!

Great DVD package. Would have liked to have games 2-8-9-10 but can't be to picky. You get a lot here for your money. All Bears fans will be pleased with this. They could perhaps do another box set with the remaining games, super bowl shuffle,Chicago Bears complete history,and America;s game! I will definately buy a future release of these. FANTASTIC! slpoutdoorsman (Sean)

Awesome... simply awesome. I purchased this a few days ago and just received it today. I watched the first game and was blown away by the quality... very good transformation from the original broadcast to DVD... GOOD JOB! Very watchable, very entertaining - DEFINITELY A GREAT BUY! OH, AND ALSO FOR THIS PRICE (33.99 SALE)!